


Lazy Valinorian Days

by FactorialRabbits



Series: Tales Beneath The Trees [1]
Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen, Life in Valinor, Years of the Trees, family fluff and hyjinks, just tagging the main three although all appear, maglor is a terrible babysitter, not proof read, the ambarussa are tree-climbing terrors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 10:27:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15241386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FactorialRabbits/pseuds/FactorialRabbits
Summary: Its warm and dry - enough so the sons of Fëanor have been given a day away from their studies. Armed with a picnic basket, they have descended upon their mother's prized mallorn tree. Its just a shame all Maitimo wanted to do with his morning was catch up on sleep.A oneshot for Fëanorian Fun Bingo, for the prompt 'Climbing Trees'





	Lazy Valinorian Days

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on a train most of the day tomorrow, so thought I'd post this given I finished it quicker than I expected. Not doing too well at the bingo-ing; none of my filled prompts are on a line with another. But I'm having fun with them, which is what counts.
> 
> The approximate human equivilent ages for this fic are as followed:  
> Maitimo - 14  
> Makalaurë - 12  
> Tyelkormo - 11  
> Carnistir - 9  
> Curufinwë - 8  
> The Ambarussa - 6

It was a morning of the sort where all someone wanted to do was rest. The seven sons of Fëanor had even been given a day off from their studies to do so. For want of somewhere else to go, they were gathered around and in the unusually large mallorn tree that grew behind their house; mother had kicked them out of the house with a picnic basket and told them to be back by dinner.

Tyelkormo had scrambled all the way up to the top, intending to try and see all the way to Valmar. Makalaurë hadn't even tried to climb it - last time he had fallen and, though uninjured physically, his pride had taken a significant blow - but was instead sat between its roots, playing series of ditties on a crwth[1] he had been lent to practice with, ostensibly watching the twins. Over the admittedly good music, Maitimo could hear Curufinwë and Carnistir bickering lightly in the lower branches. Maitimo himself was laying on a nice, lage branch about three quarters of the way up, head resting on the trunk as he closed his eyes against the bright light and daydreamed. Specifically, he was thinking of how nice it would be if some of their cousins and friends could join them - there was more than enough space in the tree for people only to be close enough to fight if they wanted to be.

"Maaaaitimo, I'm stuuuuuck!"

Maitimo opened one eye, looking up and sighing at the interruption. So much for a peaceful afternoon. His gaze found Tyelkormo, who pointed to something below them. It had been unlikely that Tyelkormo was either whining or getting stuck somewhere, but up was the direction his face had been pointing. Curufinwë would have called for Tyelkormo, Carnistir would have silently sulked until father came to find them this evening, and Makalaurë wasn't in the tree. Which left one of the twins.

Rolling his head to look below, he saw the bright eyes of Ambarussa - the younger one - filling with tears and gazing helplessly up at him. Small hands were wrapped tightly around a branch. Whilst his guess had been correct, he did have to wonder who let either of them try to climb the tree.

"Give me a minute!" 

Carefully, Maitimo got up. Keeping close to the trunk, he hopped down the a couple of branches to his youngest brother. Who was by this point starting to blubber.

"Hey, now, no need for that. I'm here now, aren't I?"

He sat down near his brother, one leg on either side of the branch. With one hand he took Ambarussa-the-younger's weight, and with the other started peeling his hands from the branch. There was a small shriek as he did so, though not from the one he was holding. A quick glance around found Maitimo face to face with an angry Ambarussa-the-elder. The small child was holding a branch out in front of him whilst grasping for the security of the tree trunk. It was surely supposed to be threatening, but to Maitimo it was nothing short of adorable.

"Don't push my brother!" the elder twin cried, brandishing his weapon.

"I'm trying to stop him falling," Maitimo deadpanned.

"Oh," the branch was lowered. "I guess that's alright then."

"You stay there and don't get yourself stuck too," Maitimo suddenly realised the potential for two tiny twins trapped on branched. They were good climbers for their age, for sure, but really shouldn't have been so high. Or without proper adult supervision.

With another few moments, he had pulled Ambarussa-the-younger up to sit between his legs. Once he was certain the younger brother was secure, he gave him a short hug.

"There we go. Shall we take you back to the ground?"

There were two nods towards Maitimo, one accompanied by a small sniff. Via the infinite skills gifted to him in his role as eldest brother of seven, he managed to guide both twins back to a level they were familiar with. 

"-and your face looks like a dog got in mother's-" they were now in range to hear the bickering properly. Curufinwë's tone was playful, if a little sharp.

"Shit!" Makalaurë's music cut off with a discordant tone and there was the sound of him scrambling to his feet.

"Problem?" Maitimo could just about see Curufinwë twisting to hang out of the tree.

"I can't find the Ambarussa!"

"Well, mother's going to be pissed with you," Carnistir's tone was full of delight at his brother's imminent doom.

Makalaurë made a nose of distress in the back of his throat, and the Ambarussa went to call their location to him. Maitimo put his fingers on their lips, silencing them. With the amount of time Makalaurë must have not realised the twins were gone, it was only fair to make him suffer a little.

It took another few minutes to get to Carnistir and Curufinwë's level, both of whom were watching Makalaurë stress.

"Hey!" Curufinwë called.

"If this isn't an offer to search the tree for me-"

"You're in worse trouble than mother." 

After a pause of no reply, Carnistir took over, "Maitimo has the twins and is headed your way."

In the time that had taken, Maitimo had dropped down to ground level, and was already reaching up to grab the first of the twins. Makalaurë stared at him. With Ambarussa-the-younger securely out of the tree, he was thrust at Makalaurë. He scrambled to catch him, hugging the youngest Fëanorian tightly.

"Maybe keep a closer eye next time you babysit?" Maitimo smiled in what he hoped was a non-threatening manner.

"Please don't tell mother," Makalaurë grinned sheepishly.

Maitimo waved a hand dismissively, "she told me to watch them and I delegated to you; we'll both be in trouble when Curufinwë tells dad."

Makalaurë groaned, as the other twin was retrieved.

Maitimo turned to look up, "Curufinwë! Go get Tyelkormo; it's about time for lunch!"

Adventures already mostly forgotten, the twins ran towards the picnic basket, excitedly chattering about sandwiches. Maitimo and Makalaurë shared a look.

"It'll be fine; nobody's hurt, and everyone except Tyelkormo's at least a little culpable, and he was up beyond where dad tells us we're not allowed to go. So if we do get into trouble, I'll just snitch on everyone and we can all be grounded together," Maitimo attempted to reassure Makalaurë.

Makalaurë gave a nervous laugh, "I'm not sure I want to share my grounding with the entire family."

With no real response to that, Maitimo could only shrug and attempt rescue the picnic from the twins.

**Author's Note:**

> [1] - crwth, a six-stringed Welsh instrument. Its neat.


End file.
